Blinkist - Always Learning

By Blinks Labs

Blinkist - Always Learning App

Where do the world’s smartest people get their ideas? From great books! Blinkist transforms the key insights of 2000+ bestselling nonfiction books into powerful packs you can read or listen to in just 15 minutes.
***Included in the App Store’s Best of 2017 selection***
Over 4 million users treat us as a companion on the most noble and challenging journey we know: fulfilling human potential. #AlwaysLearning
GET THE KEY INSIGHTS OF 2000+ BESTSELLING NONFICTION BOOKS
• Sharpen your professional skills with the best business books in your field
• Explore your many-sided self with the most impactful self-improvement titles
• Discover new perspectives on the world with bestsellers on economics, science, history & culture
• Stay on top of the latest trends and ideas in your professional field
SWITCH BETWEEN AUDIO AND TEXT
• Listen to audio versions to effortlessly slip learning into your day
• Create your own personal audio playlists to customize your learning experience
• Learn hands-free at the gym, in the car, or doing chores with Autoplay
• Read and listen offline
ENJOY PERSONALIZED READING RECOMMENDATIONS & EXPERT-CURATED LISTS
• Always know what to read next—we’ll suggest titles based on your interests & reading history
• Discover reading lists curated exclusively for Blinkist by thought leaders like Arianna Huffington, David Allen, and Dan Ariely on topics such as productivity, business, smarter living, and more
BENEFIT FROM A HUMAN TOUCH
• Focus only on the best nonfiction—our editorial team carefully selects every one of our titles
• Enjoy lovingly written summaries of key ideas by field experts with a passion for explaining complex matters in simple, beautiful language
LEARN THE WAY SCIENCE INTENDED
• Retain more thanks to a format based on neuroscientific research
• Understand quickly and easily thanks to crystal clear language and short, powerful content
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IN THE PRESS
"Blinkist is an intriguing new app that encourages you to read more nonfiction books... It’s a fun and fascinating way to discover new and interesting topics” - The New York Times
Named one of Europe’s Hottest Start-Ups in 2016 by Wired
“There is no such thing as too much knowledge. If you would like to expand your horizons, but don’t have the time to read, Blinkist is a speedy and convenient way of learning” - TheNextWeb
"Blinkist offers a terrific service – great ideas distilled down to their very essence. For those of us who are deeply curious about new ideas on success, happiness, innovation, progress and more, it’s a great start." - Forbes
“The audio feature is an awesome way to dive into a book while folding laundry or cooking a meal.” - BuzzFeed
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HOW IT WORKS:
Getting started is simple. Download the Blinkist app now and sign up for a free 7-day trial. We have monthly and annual plans available.
Blinkist Premium costs $12.99 per month (monthly plan) OR $79.99 per year (annual plan).
You can cancel at any time during your 7-day free trial via the iTunes store settings and then you will not be charged. Also, plans automatically renew unless you turn off auto-renew in your iTunes account 24 hours before the end of your current subscription period.
With Blinkist Premium you have:
• unlimited access to 2000+ titles
• unlimited access to audio versions of all titles
• personalized recommendations from the Blinkist editorial team
• the ability to read & listen offline
• a send-to-Kindle feature
• the ability to sync highlights with Evernote
If you’re not ready for unlimited access, you can still read one title selected by us, every day, by choosing the Blinkist Free plan. All details are in our terms of use and privacy policy
https://www.blinkist.com/privacy.html
Questions? Suggestions? You can speak to a real person at Blinkist. Our trusty customer support team is just an email away --- simply write to [email protected]

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Blinkist - Always Learning app screenshots

Blinkist - Always Learning app reviews

If u don’t pay, you will read books with an agenda 2/5

By Diego_primerva

Gave this app a chance for a couple of weeks at the free level. The thought of non-fiction books condensed into 20 mins worth of reading appealed to me, but I have been turned off by the politically biased selection each day for the free reading. I was hoping to improve myself personally, professionally and ethically. But instead, I find myself reading politically biased literature... something that drags me down.

“ATTENTION!!” 2/5

By TM7616

Free advice from someone who took a patented premium product into a saturated market with record breaking success;
HIRE A NEW MARKETING MANAGER ASAP!
I can say without a shadow of a doubt that your Marketing Department is NOT hitting its target 🎯 with any TRUE success
Reasons in order
1. Credibility - Brand equity begins and ends with TRUST (judging by the response given by your customer service rep, I can already hear the crackling radio
“Houston We Have a Problem” or what I’d call a Pro-blemish.
Pro-blemish is when you hire someone bc they have a degree and think that makes them the “Steve Jobs” of marketing
A Branding and Marketing culture is the face and voice consumers see and hear
Hire a consultant or firm that is in touch with your target market, for all stakeholders I hope you do
Great PRODUCT, I’d use it, but I DON’T

App Won’t Allow Email Signup? 1/5

By Alexandrain

The app does not accept an email login apparently. I actually thought I could do business with this app. I don’t “Facebook”, so seems I’m out of luck.

$80 Pricetag 1/5

By benshou

Good idea and costs 80 bucks. Not sure about how well the idea works because I didn't want to spend eighty dollars. Check it out and let me know if you've got eight zero clams or bones or big ones.

Blinkist 1/5

By Dolphinity

Cancel immediately. When asked the cost, I was told it was free. I will not pay for it.

Love it for leaders 5/5

By Davisshaw

Leaders are readers, or in my case, audiobook listeners. Thank you for providing relevant and up to date content in a timely manner and at no financial cost to us if we choose the limited, on story, version. Thank you

Disappointed 3/5

By superexcited123

I’m frustrated that Blinkist decided to not be transparent about how their trial period works. I signed up for an account and not only was it not explained that I was using the platform under a trial but also that it was a 24hr trial.
I’ve heard good things about this app and was sad to see how deceptive they decided to be with the layout and design of their user sign up process. Just be upfront with all these details.

Paid Member. App crashes all the time. 1/5

By Newhadoop

Paid Member. App crashes all the time making it unusable. Please fix it.

Not free 1/5

By Seanddd

80£ a year don’t say it’s a free app

It’s good and clever 5/5

By TeD2D

I really love this. Haven’t signed up for the subscription as I’ve just been reading the daily stories which are good.
But at $80 for the year, I find too much to spend.
There should be some smaller mid-tiered plan - maybe at $35 that allows access to maybe 1 of any book a day or something similar. I would sign up in a heartbeat!

Really glad this exists 5/5

By Robophonic

I’m interested in way more books than I have time to read. This is a great way to sample books — especially books in the business genre that are often repetitive to fill space.
I want to second the suggestion by another reviewer of offering the ability to dive deeper if desired. Perhaps readers could signal their interest in diving deeper on a book, or a chapter of a book, and if enough readers show interest, a second level summary could be offered.

Over assuming & slow audio 3/5

By Jacob Berger

-1 star : "Sex?"... I've never asked a girl to come to bed with me as an opening line, but considering this app asks me to part with $80 within the first couple screens... How about letting me use the app for an hour before your big ask;)
-1 star : The max audio speed is 1.5x, slower than the speed of smell for someone who listens to podcasts at 2x and dreams of a 2.5x option. Give me these 2 speed options and I'll give you back a star

Shame 1/5

By Smealek

Nothing here is free and everything is locked. Just stick to apple podcasts or stitcher. This seems pointless, because you have free alternatives.

Good, but biased 2/5

By LifeNW

If you go the free route, you can get one book a day, which is very generous all things considered.
The idea of Blinkist is that they boil down non-fiction books into bullet points. Very handy if you don’t really know what books you are wanting to read. Think of it as watching a trailer for a movie that spoils the ending, but in a good way because it lets you know if you should invest your time in the whole thing.
The reason I am giving this only 2 stars is because of how incredibly biased it is. Imagine your most liberal high school teacher, gave you a summation of a book, trying to be positive, but spinning everything through their liberal views and inserting their liberal opinions as fact. That is what you have here.
If you are able to see past this biased, it is at least a useful tool to get you interested in topics that you may have otherwise not been exposed to.

1 Free book of their choice, geez...really? 1/5

By PJL7001

1 free book of their choice, geez, really?

Doesn’t play well with AirPods 3/5

By glenra

Bug report: When wearing AirPods configured such that double-tap is play/pause, the Blinkist app WON’T PAUSE in response to the AirPod gesture. Resuming play AFTER a pause works reasonably well, it’s only pausing that doesn’t work.
(I verified this by comparing versus (a) the Music app, (b) Overcast. Blinkist is the odd one out so the bug must be yours.)

Everything is locked. 1/5

By pablostanley

Seriously, everything. Don’t download unless you want to pay without trying. They have a “free” daily but it’s just garbage blog posts.

Loop over chapter 1/5

By Annoyduser

There’s a bug in the program that causes the software to repeat playing the same Blink instead of moving on to the next one. Makes it useless for handsfree listening!

Excellent Product 5/5

By Procat

Blinkist summarizes books you either don't have time to read or would rather get the gist of the book without reading. For example, I don't like reading business books but it is useful to be familiar with their content to pick up on references at work.
I have compared blinks to some books that I am familiar with and the quality of the summaries is excellent.
The app is well done. The subscription price reasonable.
I particularly like the feature of having the blinks read aloud like podcasts, frees me up for other activities.

Great book summaries 5/5

By Haf527

As much as I would love to read all these books in full, I love that I can listen to the blinks and learn the main ideas of so many more books than I have time to read.

BEWARE tried 2 charge me $79 w no account 1/5

By A'nge

I downloaded this app a while ago and never got around to setting it up. But today I get a Apple alert saying Blinkist tried to charge my Apple account 79.99 for the yearly subscription fee. Why I don’t know I didn’t even set an account up. Just be careful.

Slightly Disappointed 1/5

By mrshoran128

I read the free one and it seemed good but I was disappointed that you only get one free article a day. I enjoy learning new things and that’s the reason I downloaded the app but I thought I would be able to read things for free. So overall I’m disappointed.

Keep on keep 'n on 5/5

By Gthom73

Hey fellas,ladies keep knocking out the work good app great concept make it awesome!!!

Update 4/5

By haart

The app will, without fail, repeat whatever chapter I play after 30 seconds of playback whenever i start a new track. This is very annoying.
Update: it appears the developers have resolved playback errors revised up one star. Will update review days later.

Was enjoying the app 1/5

By Iwantsuga

I was enjoying the free daily on the app, but I noticed this morning the book Blink I’ve been waiting for all week, since they email the schedule in advance, was changed this morning when I was in just about to start it. The free book changed completely from a conservative book to a liberal book. I’m not ok with material being censored. If they didn’t want this book delivered free of charge they shouldn’t have emailed me 6 days ago. Censoring will always get 1 Star. The book reviews do seem more on point than other free book breakdowns.

Price is absurd 1/5

By Vnessquikk

first of all the service they offer is not worth 70$ a year..also who would lay that amount of money down without even being able to see what it has to fully offer you. All i see is one book summary. Is that really all the app does? Summarize literature and choose what you should read? There was a list of books “recommended for me.” I hadn’t even been asked anything that would allow for any sort of personalization. The 70$ yearly price is absurd. I deleted the app already. There’s no way I’m falling into that trap. It’s a cool concept but they need to rethink that price bc there’s apps that perform the same function for free lol

An interesting idea that isn’t quite there yet 3/5

By BenjPhoto

As someone with a disability that makes it hard to read, this concept is a welcome one and I can see it being extremely beneficial with some improvements.
The interface is spartan. It could do with some sprucing up, but that’s only aesthetic and I could live with it in exchange for better functionality.
The book selection seemed pretty limited. (EDIT: The selection is much broader than I initially thought. I was able to search for titles I didn’t see on the home page). I only saw a couple of books I recognized (though I did not look though all titles). The two free articles I read (On the history of the iPhone and the history of Airbnb) were just that. I didn’t get the sense I was getting a book but rather a Wired article. That may be because they choose less popular material for the free service.
The use of the term “blink” seems an awkward attempt to be clever. Blink has a connotation of missing something rather than showing something. “Don’t blink or you’ll miss it”. I don’t know what a “blink” is. Is it supposed to be a chapter summary? Without hearing a better book, and possibly one I’ve already read, I don’t have a sense that I’m getting the meat of the book but just a few representative paragraphs. More of a sampler than a summation.
I try to follow along with the audio and, while that is possible, it’s less than ideal. Since I’m looking at the text and listening to audio simultaneously it would be helpful to have audio controls on the text page as well as the audio page. Switching back and forth was a pain and often resulted in losing my place and starting a page over and using the scrubber back and forth several times to find my place.
The only other negative was that the price seemed a bit steep.
BUT, I want this to be better. Better interface. Better selection. Better place tracking.... If I could walk away feeling I have the essentials of the book this could be a great app!

Idea is cool, app needs work. 3/5

By jc7792

I like the idea and I've been able to "read" quite a few books but the app is incredibly wonky. I don't like how the audio is either always repeating the first 20 seconds of a new blink over and over indefinitely, or the book pauses after one blink so I have to manually pause/play to turn it back on... kinda want my money back especially after paying so much for a yearly subscription. The app simply doesn't work all the time - and that doesn't seem fair for such a steep price.
Not only does this make the app look bad, but it makes top influencers who advertise and recommend it seem less credible. Look I'm not here to be a raging customer, I'm just hoping the company has the integrity to back up their product or provide a return for it not working right.

Are you kidding? Absolute scam! 1/5

By Cavemanion

$7 a month to read articles and books you can find on your own. Good grief.....deleting immediately!

Summaries aren't worth the money 3/5

By delsan19

I had access to the full version as a perk of being a Scribd subscriber.
In my opinion the summaries were bland and vague.​ So I just deleted Blinkest.

Terrific! 5/5

By JustinMoran

Very happy with my subscription! Keep up the good work👍

Audio recordings Skip 1/5

By applecustomer1234xyz

Out of nowhere and for no apparent reason, the recording will sadly Skip back to the beginning.
Since you are concentrating on the content and not watching the time, you don’t know where you were when the audio returns to the beginning.
Very distracting.
I will not renew this subscription.

Useless 1/5

By CaliMichele

Unless you pay for the subscription this app is useless.
Even the daily free articles become locked after a day passes.
If you read an article it is locked the next day and it stays on you read list even though you can’t read it again.
The concept was exciting though the content wasn’t the best. It was a complete waste of time doing the supposed free trial which requires you to actually put in payment info to get it to work. Don’t do it

Sketchy Billing 1/5

By bnkt5433

I was immediately turned off by the billing structure. A week trial and then forcing you to pay a year up front makes me think this app makes money by scamming people who forget to cancel their trial than on the actual quality of the content. Just google book summaries for free.

Greatest app for dyslexics and students! 5/5

By DyslexicDev

This is one of the best apps I have ever had! Thank you so much for making this content available! As a dyslexic this if the first time this information has been easily available!

Frustrated 1/5

By hutch570

Instantly you will find they want $70+ per year to actually let you see what they promised when you download the app.
Evergreen subscriptions are brutal on our wallets!😤

This app is AWESOME!! 5/5

By IAmThatHero117

I am currently using the free version of this app, and am thoroughly enjoying it! This is really awesome! One of these days, I'll save up some extra money and get the yearly subscription. But until then, the free version works super well!!
Thank you to the people behind this app! It's my new favorite app!!

I was shocked when I saw a $79 charge on my Apple account. 1/5

By MsMimiB

I was excited about this app when I found it, but I must have been so excited that I missed the fact that the app cost $79 a year. I could not believe it when I saw that charge. I felt completely bamboozled. The concept of the app is really great but the price is prohibitive for most of us and not worth for others.

Great app! 5/5

By GibsonGang

Wish I would have had this app a long time ago. I love to read non fiction, but unfortunately have very little time. Many of the summaries I have read initially were of books that I have read before. The summaries were a great reflection of the book. Also love the fact that sections I highlight automatically go into Evernote. It seems like any poor reviews of this app are from people who want something for free.. Sad

Bugs detract from the experience 1/5

By AustinErck

I downloaded this as a friend recommended it and initially I was very impressed. However I quickly learned that the player is very buggy which detracts from the content making me not want to even try and listen. If they fix the repeating blinks and tie it into the iOS audio player(they way Apple Music, Spotify, and many podcast apps do) I’ll give it another chance. But as of now I recommend you stay away...
Update: More bugs! Now my blinks repeat so I have to listen to the same blink twice. Which is not acceptable while driving. I recommend not getting Blinkist because I know I’ll be cancelling my subscription

Customer service is nonexisting & app has not worked in 11 months 1/5

By Still the amazing Ms. O

I wish that I could give less than one star I have written numerous times about the fact that this app does not allow me to actually listen to any blink books. I would of course just cancel my membership ( I have a prime membership, witches 50 bucks annually) but since customer service is nonexistent canceling is impossible. Funny how charging my credit card for a second year happened quite promptly, responding personally to my email however, not so much. In all fairness, the one week, 55 weeks ago when I was able to listen to blink books was awesome so I guess that one week deserves one star.

Deceptive 1/5

By Bflo62

I am very sorry that I made this purchase through the App Store. You should be warned that Blinkist has one policy if you buy through their website, and another if you purchase through the App store. Their money back guarantee does not apply to purchases made through the App Store. This kind of split policy should not be allowed. I blame both companies and will not deal with the App Store again.

Too expensive and they spam with emails 2/5

By Summer2387

It’s a good concept- but there isn’t an affordable option. It’s also hard to navigate/browse- they give you only a few suggestions and that’s it.
I signed up for a week long free trial and within 6 hours had 5 spam emails from them. Why do companies intentionally try to piss people off?

Unable to cancel my subscription 1/5

By Kiwiboo2000

This app has terrible customer support. I want to cancel this subscription and their is no easy way to do this.. what a rip off

Worst ever 1/5

By skelly300

Never subscribed
Just clicked on seems no info for app and charged $79. Yikes! Enough to keep me from even trying to learn about apps. Thoroughly disgusted. Beware of Blinkist!

Subscription not recognized. 1/5

By Kachman

Was charged $12.99 for 1 month and won’t let me log in. Disappointed since I like the app.

Disingenuous 1/5

By Jim mckee

to imply this is a free app by allowing to download for free, only to find out it’s not. Guess this is the direction that all app developers will take in the future. Will absolutely REFUSE to buy any app that is misrepresented in this manner

Had Potential 2/5

By Avid User 79

Heard about this app thru Ben Shapiro and took advantage of the discount. Although you don't get the nuance and author's tone in the summaries I feel they offer a decent primer.
My big complaint is that for some reason all the audio downloads are now playing duplicate chapters. The online suggestions are unhelpful and I've yet to receive any response from customer support. I'll likely cancel if this continues.

More Plans 3/5

By LuckyTreat

You need more than 3 plans. There are more than 3 kinds of people in the world.

Annoying voices 3/5

By OvertheAds

There should be two options of voices for each. I keep getting the same annoying lady for the ones I want to listen too.